{"product_id":"girls-play-dead-acts-of-self-preservation-by-jen-percy","title":"Girls Play Dead: Acts of Self-Preservation by Jen Percy","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom Doubleday: \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"mb-4\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eA lyrical and groundbreaking exploration of the misun­derstood ways women survive and forever carry trauma from the award-winning\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ewriter Jen Percy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A groundbreaking exploration of women’s often shamed and silenced responses to sexual assault...Extensive, empathetic...A vital record of a little discussed aspect of women’s lived reality.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e“Girls Play Dead\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ereads like a novel, exquisitely rendered, and a kind of geography, mapping out the complexities of women’s experiences going ‘down below’ and the specific ways that they come to understand their altered bodies and minds.” \u003cbr\u003e—Rachel Aviv,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ebestselling author of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eStrangers to Ourselves\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"mb-4\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eAfter a childhood spent learning survival strategies in the wilderness, Jen Percy thought she knew how she would respond in the face of danger. But a series of unsettling interactions with men left her feeling betrayed and confounded by her body's passivity. Forced to reckon the myths of her own empowerment, Percy set off a broader inquiry into the way fear shapes behavior in the context of sexual violence, including the strange behaviors of three generations of women in her family. \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e         \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDrawing on original reporting, years of conversations with survivors, and her own life story, Percy explores the surprising ways in which responses to sexual violence are shaped by both evolutionary instinct and gendered scripts. She takes on taboo subjects—orgasms during assault, sexual promiscuity, female rage, freezing and passivity—illuminating how society misreads these acts as deviance or consent, rather than brilliant acts of self-preservation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLike Joan Didion, Katherine Boo, and Janet Malcolm, Percy is a fearless cultural critic with a talent for wresting deep truths from lived experiences.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eGirls Play Dead\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003emeaningfully expands the language available to survivors and complicates our expectations of how a trauma story should sound—especially when belief, justice, and healing are contingent on how well a story “makes sense.” Percy examines how trauma corrupts storytelling itself, making survivors’ accounts seem fractured or surreal—and therefore less credible to institutions demanding coherence—resulting in an ambitious testament to the mind as a record of resilience.\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Dotters Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51536981459237,"sku":"9780385550048","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2167\/5269\/files\/9780385550048.jpg?v=1762639096","url":"https:\/\/dottersbooks.com\/products\/girls-play-dead-acts-of-self-preservation-by-jen-percy","provider":"Dotters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}